New Zealand services sector maintains strong rate of expansion

Growth in New Zealand's services sector accelerated last month, according to the latest performance of services index (PSI) out Monday.

The BNZ-Business New Zealand PSI for February was 56.9, up 1.5 points from January, on a scale on which above 50 indicates expansion and below 50 contraction.

It maintained a straight run of readings over 55 points since December 2014.

Business New Zealand chief executive Kirk Hope said in a statement that February's result was boosted by a strong showing in sales and new orders/business.

BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert said the most reassuring aspect of February's PSI was the bounce back in its employment index.

"This proved important, in that it offset the softness in February's performance of manufacturing index (PMI) on staffing, which had moved into contraction territory," Ebert said in the statement.

The GDP-weighted BNZ-Business New Zealand performance of composite index, which combines the PMI and PSI, was up 0.7 points to 56.7.